The Handmaid's Tale Writer Margaret Atwood's Favorite Horror Movies Will Leave You Terrified

Essayist, novelist, and poet Margaret Atwood has written mysteries, commentaries, children's books, comics, operas, teleplays, and historical fiction, but is perhaps best known to the general public for her dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels. Her 1985 novel "The Handmaid's Tale" is set in a bleak future in which a religious cult has taken over the United States, and women have been forcibly assigned as Handmaids for the state; that is, they must bear children for the country's elite men. 

"The Handmaid's Tale" has been adapted for the stage, into a feature film in 1990, and, most notably, into a hit TV series in 2017. Atwood wrote a sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale" in 2019, titled "The Testaments," which was later adapted into a TV series in 2026.

So naturally, Atwood would have excellent taste in horror movies. Back in 2017, when the TV series "The Handmaid's Tale" was just launching, Atwood took to Reddit to host an AMA with her many fans. Atwood was 78 at the time and seemed chuffed to be able to interact with people and hype up both her new TV show and her then-newest novel, "Hag-Seed," a riff on William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." When a fan asked her about "guilty pleasure" movies, Atwood confessed that she found the Sandra Bullock comedy "Miss Congeniality" to be very funny. She also, like so many of us, adores Mel Brooks' movies "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein." 

But then she realized that some of her favorite movies were vampire movies, and she declared she was fond of the 2008 Swedish film "Let the Right One In" as well as the horror movies starring Christopher Lee. Atwood also said she loves George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," the well-known classic that has been terrifying audiences for decades. 

Margaret Atwood's statement on her guilty pleasure movies was that: 

"[T]here are so many of them! Just saw 'Miss Congeniality' again on a plane — very funny! Also 'The Producers' and 'Young Frankenstein.' Also 'Singin' in the Rain' when depressed. In the World o' Vampires, I am a Christopher Lee fan, but also 'Let The Right One In,' Swedish version. 'Night of the Living Dead,' first one ... a classy, low-budget horror film. I could go on ..." 

Christopher Lee famously played Count Dracula in a 1958 Hammer Studios film, "Horror of Dracula," a colorful, shocking, exciting film for its era. "Horror of Dracula" spawned a slew of sequels, most of which starred Lee, and most of which have fun, salacious titles: "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave," "Taste the Blood of Dracula," and "Dracula A.D. 1972" are all fun. Lee wasn't in the 1974 kung-fu sequel "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires." The films vary in quality, but they're all entertaining, and Lee, when he is present, is a hoot, bringing a new type of melodramatic verve to the role of Dracula. Between him and Bela Lugosi, the public knows what vampires look and sound like. ) 

Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In," based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, is about a young, lonely boy named Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) who lives in a boring apartment block in Sweden in 1982. He finds a friend in a mysterious new neighbor named Eli (Lina Leandersson, voiced by Elif Ceylan), who is never seen during the day, and who lives with a nervous "caretaker" named Håkan. Oskar doesn't see that Håkan (Per Ragnar) occasionally commits murders for Eli. Naturally, Eli is a centuries-old vampire. It's one of the best films of 2008. 

Margaret Atwood didn't mention if she had read the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel on which "Let the Right One In" was based, but I have, and the book goes way further than the movie. The book is unambiguous about the past torture Eli suffered and the true nature of Eli's relationship with Håkan. It has a Stephen King vibe. 

It's fair that Atwood should refer to George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" as "a classy, low-budget horror film." Romero made his classic for only about $125,000, but it would go on to make untold millions. Sadly, the actual numbers for "Night of the Living Dead" may be difficult to track because, as cineastes know, it was accidentally released without a copyright notice. That means the film immediately lapsed into the public domain, and anyone with a print could make a quick buck off of it ... without giving Romero a penny. This is a pity for Romero, of course, as his film is one of the scariest ever made and has passed into the American cinematic canon. The film doesn't use the word "zombie," and spends most of its runtime in a cabin with the crazed Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and her protector, the cool-headed Ben (Duane Jones). Zombies are hoping to break in and (ulp) eat them. 

Oh yes, and we should address that Atwood loves "Singin' in the Rain," the celebrated Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly musical from 1952. The film is about Hollywood's transition from silent cinema to sound in the early 1920s, but it's also very modern, with bright colors and extended dream ballets. That one is pretty good, too.